Yesterday, I met my new
conversation partner, Joe. Like Keith,
my former conversation partner, Joe is from China. Although we had a shaky start to our meeting,
we ended up enjoying one another’s company.
This is what happened:
I
arrived in front of the tables outside of 1873, where I saw a young man sitting
by himself. As I approached him, he
looked at me, and he held my gaze as if he already knew who I was. I asked him if he was Joe, and – to my relief
– he replied that he was. No more than a
minute into our conversation did Joe’s friend, Rain, arrive. I thought I’d be getting a double dose of
conversation, but Rain quickly left after his short introduction. Suddenly, it was just Joe and I.
I
opened my mouth to learn more about Joe when he told me that he did not want to
talk about the “boring stuff”, such as his major, his hometown, et cetera. This kind of surprised me, but I was not
about to start this conversation off on the wrong foot, so I simply nodded my
head.
He
told me about Keith, and how the two of them are friends. In fact, he accompanied Keith on some of the
adventures that I had previously talked to Keith about. Like Keith, Joe loves food – something that I
love, too! He told me about his love for
seafood; he likes the restaurant Pappadeux’s.
He then went on to explain how important fish is in one’s diet because
of all the nutrients it has. This
impressed me, yet I felt a little ashamed, as I am not a fish fanatic. Moreover, Joe told me that he is what the
Chinese would call a “food man” (he told me the Chinese version of this, but I
do not remember what he said/I would completely butcher the spelling of the
word). He said that he is called this because he can eat a lot of food, which I
completely respect. He
Another
thing that was so wonderful about meeting Joe was how complimentary he was
towards me. He noticed that I said hello
to a lot of people that walked by our table outside, and he said that he was
impressed. He told me that I have a lot
of friends, and he admired that because he wants to make friends here. I told him he’s already got at least one
friend – me (well two because he is friends with Rain). In addition, he told me that I am a “social
flower”, which is what we would call a “social butterfly”. I thought it was interesting how similar yet
different these two sayings are. He
expanded upon this by saying that social flowers are successful because they
are friendly and easy to talk to. Joe
told me that I would be successful one day in whatever I do. Awe…thanks, Joe.
Now,
remember how I mentioned Joe not wanting to cover some of the basic questions that
are customary when you meet someone?
Well, we did…eventually. He told
me that he plans on studying Business. In
fact, he got his acceptance into TCU (meaning he passed his English test)
yesterday in the mail; I am so proud of him!
Moreover, he told me how he plans on living off campus next year with
some of his friends, including Rain. He
is excited about this because he will be able to cook his own food (he’s not the
biggest fan of Market Square), and he will have a pool in his backyard! He also invited me to his house-warming party
next year, which I will be more than happy to attend.
In
summation, I had a wonderful time talking with Joe. He told me that I am a great conversation
partner, and I can easily say the same thing about him. I am excited for the conversations that await
us!
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